Indians Prospect Insider

The Indians lost 4-2 on Thursday to the lowly Royals, and in the process lost the series. The Indians continue to struggle at home as they are averaging 3.5 runs a game and are 2-6, and now the Angels and their starting pitching staff comes to town this weekend. Jason Ruggiero recaps Thursday's loss and gives his second thoughts on what few things went right and so many things that went wrong.

Both the Columbus Clippers and Akron Aeros were off on Thursday, but even with a small slate of action in the Indians' system there was still a lot of excitement last night as both the Carolina Mudcats and Lake County Captains had walkoff wins. Gio Urshela sent everyone home happy in Carolina with a big blast, and Tony talks about him and lots more in IPI's original Around the Farm.

The Lake County Captains battled both the chill and the Peoria Chiefs in an extra-inning 7-6 victory on Thursday night. Right-hander Felix Sterling (0-0, 3.15 ERA) started for the Captains against Peoria’s Michael Jensen (3-1, 1.50), a righty from Salinas, California. Sterling sailed through two innings walking just two, but ran into trouble in the third inning. With one out and one man on, third baseman Wes Darvill sent a shot over the right field fence for his first career home run, giving Peoria a 2-0 lead.

Giovanny Urshela belted a three-run homer to left-center, and the Carolina Mudcats walked away an 8-5 winner over the Lynchburg Hillcats in front of 4,824 on Thursday afternoon at Five County Stadium. The final shot capped a four-run comeback by the Mudcats (10-9). The loss drops Lynchburg to 10-8. Dale Dickerson (1-2) was awarded the win by pitching the ninth inning. Juan Jamie (0-1) takes the loss after giving up the game winner.

Another start. Another underwhelming performance. And thus another sad chapter in the story of Ubaldo Jimenez as a Cleveland Indian. Last night Jimenez faced the Kansas City Royals in his fourth start of the 2012 campaign and once again there was not much to like. But Steve Orbanek thinks it is still too soon to give up on Jimenez and that he may still come around.

With their 10-game losing streak over, the prospects in Lake County are starting to show their colors. Cody Anderson shined on the mound, and Luigi Rodriguez and Bryson Myles were bright spots in the lineup. Lianna Holub reviews the week that was in her weekly Thursday notebook.

The Indians lost 8-2 last night and in the process allowed the Royals to end their 12-game losing streak and also lose a chance to take sole possession of first place in the AL Central. Ubaldo Jimenez was once again very consistent and Charlie Adams breaks down his start, the performance of the bullpen, lineup and other aspects of last night's game.

If Chen won a game in the 11th inning and Urshela had a four-hit performance, who passed them to take the top spot in ATF? How about a guy that blasted two homers, with four RBI while hoisting his team on his shoulders? Check out IPI's Around the Farm for these, and other minor league performances from yesterday's games.

The Clippers lost their fourth straight game as they dropped a 6-2 afternoon contest to the Toledo Mud Hens. The Mud Hens would jump out to an early 1-0 lead on a Danny Worth two out RBI double down the right field line. The Clippers would come right back and tie it at 1-1 when Matt LaPorta drove in Lonnie Chisenhall with an RBI single to left field. Columbus would take the lead in the bottom half of the third. Carrera, Cord Phelps, and Chisenhall all singled to load the bases with one out.

The Akron Aeros defeated the Bowie Baysox, 5-4, in an eleven-inning match sealing a three-series victory Wednesday at Prince George Stadium. It would be Aeros' designated hitter Chun Chen who would bring home the winning run in the top of the eleventh inning with a line drive up the middle to score catcher Michael Hernandez. Chen went 3-for-6 with two RBI’s on the night and is now batting .323. Akron started off strong in the second inning putting two runs on the board.

The Carolina Mudcats (8-9) looked to get their pitching back on track following a 14-8 blow out on Tuesday night as they took on the Lynchburg Hillcats (10-6) for the third game of a four game series. The Mudcats behind Jeremie Tice’s two home runs and four RBI’s were able to beat the Hillcats 5-2. “I’m glad for Tice as he had a great spring training," Mudcats manager Edwin Rodriguez said. "He was struggling a little bit at the beginning of the season and now he’s getting his swing back and he’s the big power guy in the middle of the lineup.”

The Lake County Captains celebrated a 6-3 victory on Wednesday night as center fielder Luigi Rodriguez went 3-for-4 in the team’s return home for a three-game series against the Peoria Chiefs. Right-hander Cody Anderson (1-0, 3.00 ERA) took the bump for the Captains for his third start of the season as lefty Gerardo Concepcion (0-0, 0.00 ERA) made his season debut for Peoria. Concepcion was signed by the Chicago Cubs in March 2011, inking a five-year, $3 million deal with a $3 million signing bonus.

The Mudcats returned home from a weak road trip and began slugging the ball. While their starters began to resemble the great pitching of 2010 and 2011, the bullpen more resembled a horror movie than a bullpen mafia. What could have been a break-out week, turned into a wash. Jim Pete returns with Fishing For Mudcats, the Carolina Mudcats notebook...

Time to unveil a new weekly premium feature on the IPI, the "Stock Watch". In this weekly report, four to six players at each level in the Indians system will be graded on their currently standing (stock) in the organization and whether their stock is way up, trending up, neutral, trending down, or way down. Insight gained from scouts and evaluators will be used in this report.

They may not attract the type of media buzz that other higher-profile players garner, but the trio of Jason Donald, Jose Lopez and Aaron Cunningham are the exact type of role players that Cleveland fans admire as the blue collar members of the team. With a left-handed dominant starting lineup these players will be more important as the season moves along, and Adam talks about the trio in his latest.

The Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Monday night, improving their record to 9-6, getting their 8th win in their last 10 games, and sending the Royals to their 11th straight loss. Charlie Adams provides his second thoughts about another solid performance from Derek Lowe, the performance of the bullpen, the quality at bats of Kipnis and Santana, and lots more.

Is Tommy Neal ready to make the Giants look stupid for dealing him in the Orlando Cabrera trade last season? Is Matt LaPorta ready to make the move to the big league level? Check out last night's Around the Farm to find out the answers to those top prospects, as well as several others in IPI's daily staple!

T.J. McFarland had another strong outing and right fielder Thomas Neal had three hits to lead the Akron Aeros to a 5-1 win over the Bowie Baysox on Tuesday. The Aeros lineup gave McFarland an early lead, scoring two runs in the first inning off Bowie starter Cole McCurry, who lost his second game to Akron in less than a week. After recording two quick outs to start the game, McCurry gave up an opposite field home run to third baseman Jared Goedert. The home run was Goedert’s second of the season.

Tuesday night’s contest between the Columbus Clippers and Toledo Mud Hens might as well have been a home-run derby, and the Clippers didn’t have enough power to compete. The Mud Hens (13-6), remained atop the West Division of the International League, beating the Clippers (10-9), 12-8, in front of 5,703 fans at Huntington Park in Columbus. The two teams combined for seven homers—five of which were by Toledo, and three from Mud Hens’ first baseman Brad Eldred—in an offensive showcase that also produced 28 hits.

The Lake County Captains (5-14) attempted a rally in the ninth inning of the series finale but were unable to score the go-ahead run against the Kane County Cougars (10-9) and fell 6-5. Kane County drew first blood with two outs in the third inning off of Captains’ starter Joe Colon (1-2, 4.26 ERA). Third baseman Michael Antonio reached on a single and then stole second and advanced to third on an error by catcher Alex Monsalve. Right fielder Jorge Bonifacio doubled home Antonio, and then center fielder Lane Adams singled to center to score Bonifacio. The Cougars led 2-0 after three innings.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!